The MOOC Honeymoon is Over: Three Takeaways from the Coursera Calamity

The honeymoon with MOOCs is over. The reality check has finally arrived which was inevitable. MOOCs will not solve all the woes of higher education. It is unfortunate it had to be a class on how to design an online course; it was the Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application [FOE] offered through Coursera…

How Patriotic

Similar:Brain, InterruptedIn most situations, the person juggling …AcademiaVeteran’s microphone cut off when he discusses Black people’s role in establishing Memoria…Who is this nobody Memorial Day keynote …CultureLessons from the Covington Catholic FlashpointMy social media network includes people …CultureBoston bombings: Social media spirals out of controlA thoughtful analysis. Problem-solver…CultureHow important is the look 'n' feel of…

Beatrice the Biologist: How the Brain Works

Beatrice the Biologist: How the Brain Works. Similar:1 small shirt for a man, 1 giant leap backward for women: ColumnIdea for a scientist pull-cord doll: “Fa…AestheticsBefore I Go: A Stanford neurosurgeon’s parting wisdom about life and timeA very moving reflection by a dying man,…CultureTo Learn More, This High-Schooler Left The ClassroomNick Bain, 17, was in…

A Wealth of Words

People with similar vocabulary sizes may vary significantly in their talent and in the depth of their understanding. Nonetheless, there’s no better index to accumulated knowledge and general competence than the size of a person’s vocabulary. Simply put: knowing more words makes you smarter. And between 1962 and the present, a big segment of the…

Pinkalicious — “Buzz Off”

My daughter plays the Bumblebee in “Buzz Off,” which both ended Act I and opened Act II in last weekend’s Stage Right! production of Pinkalicious. Similar:More #blender3d #steampunk #design. #blender3dart #aesthetics The officers’ conference roo…AestheticsFeeding a Neighbor's LambsA neighbor invited us over to help feed …AmusingIn praise of the sci-fi corridorCorridors in science-fiction movies. I…

Make Games in the Classroom with Inform 7

I’ll blog pretty much anything that has to do with Inform 7. Text-based games, or interactive fiction, have continued to evolve since the days of Zork. Many works can be powerful for play in the classroom: Emily Short’s “interactive epistolary” First Draft of the Revolution, Andrew Plotkin’s physics-grounded Dual Transform, Peter Nepstad’s historically grounded 1893: A…